I often set myself new goals and resolutions at the start of a new year, when I’m beginning a new school year and even at the start of each semester. However, I find myself falling out of my new habits quite quickly after starting to put them into practice. Sometimes, I don’t even get to doing some of the things I’d wanted to. After reflecting, I realize that I sometimes set some unrealistic goals, get overwhelmed and can’t maintain them. To start the new semester, I’ve looked at my intentions and made them into manageable habits I can start to do moving forward.
My first intention is to eat better and make healthy choices. However, I’m not going to cut everything out of my diet and restrict myself. I’m going to just work on making sure I get three good meals every day, add in fruits and vegetables where I can and moderate my snacking. I want to work on cooking more meals rather than always eating frozen and processed food. Along with this, I want to pack lunches for days I know that I’ll be on campus for an extended amount of time, so I don’t always turn to fast food. While maintaining this, I’m still going to eat foods I enjoy, but just be mindful of how I’m fuelling my body.
Something else I want to work on is being more active. Whether it’s going to the gym, attending group classes, walking or even just stretching, I just need to move my body more. Sometimes going to the gym can feel like a lot, but I’ve realized that even just going for 20 to 30 minutes is really all I need to get a good workout in. If I’m going alone, I like to go to the girls only hours because it makes me feel more comfortable, which is crucial for getting the most out of my time there. When I don’t feel like going to the gym or don’t have time, even just a walk outside is enough to get my heart rate up. My main goal for this intention is to keep my body healthy and in good shape.
Another intention of mine is to stay on top of my schoolwork and not have to worry about doing things last minute. I don’t want to be cramming for everything. This semester I have two seminar sessions a week, so I have a lot of reading to keep up with for them. I want to make sure that I give myself plenty of time to read the material, go through it and take good notes so I can participate in discussions. In the past, I would set myself this goal and just tell myself when I was going to do things and make a mental schedule. However, that never really worked, so I am going to go through what has to be done ahead of time, write it into an organized list and plan everything accordingly. I think at least trying this method with my seminars first will help me to eventually do it with all my schoolwork. I know I need to start with smaller steps, or this plan won’t succeed like I hope it will.
While implementing and working on these goals, I’m going to focus on being kind to myself. I know it’s not going to be easy at first to maintain all of these things, especially all at once, but I know I’m going to do my best. I think recognizing now that it’s not going to be a simple task is important and will allow me to not be as hard on myself and understand that it is a process. These things won’t happen overnight, and I can’t get mad at myself for every little thing because that’s just not sustainable. If I’m patient with myself, I’m more likely to reach my goals.